have liked this very much, he thought, if he could have been
a coachman all at once, for if there was one thing he disliked, it was
work. He much preferred to lie in the sun all day and do nothing; and he
only agreed to come and take care of Jess because she was such a very
little pony, that looking after her seemed next door to doing nothing.
But when he tried it, he found his mistake. True, Jess was a very gentle
beast, so quiet that the old mother-hen with fourteen chicks used,
instead of roosting with the rest of the fowls, to come regularly into
the portion of the cow-shed which was partitioned off for a stable, and
settle under a corner of Jess's manger for the night; and in the morning
the chicks would be seen running about fearlessly among her feet and
under her very nose.

But, for all that, she required a little management, for she did not
like her long hair to be roughly handled; it took a long time to clean
her; and, though she did not scream out like some silly little children
when her hair was combed, I am afraid she sometimes kicked and bounced
about, giving Bill a deal of trouble--all the more trouble, the more
impatient Bill was.

And then he had to keep within call, for the children wanted their pony
at all hours. She was their own especial property, and they insisted
upon learning to ride--even before they got a saddle. Hard work it was
to stick on Jess's bare back, but by degrees the boys did it, turn and
turn about, and even gave their sisters a turn too--a very little
one--just once round the field and back again, which was quite enough,
they considered, for girls. But they were very kind to their little
sisters, held them on so that they could not fall, and led Jess
carefully and quietly: and altogether behaved as elder brothers should.

Nor did they squabble very much among themselves, though sometimes it
was rather difficult to keep their turns all fair, and remember
accurately which was which. But they did their best, being, on the
whole, extremely good children. And they were so happy to have their
pony, that they would have been ashamed to quarrel over her.

Also, one very curious thing kept them on their good behavior. Whenever
they did begin to misconduct themselves--to want to ride out of their
turns, or to domineer over one another, or the boys, joining together,
tried to domineer over the girls, as I grieve to say boys not seldom
do--they used to hear in the air, right over their hea